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The Village Voice ponders the mysterious marker actions last week that occurred on a stretch of iPod advertisements on Lafayette Street between Bond and Great Jones Streets. Written on the popular music listening device's colorful silhouette posters were statements like "The I stands for Isolation" and "The I stands for Income," and then other passer-bys responded. Gothamist loves the idea of this kind of outdoor interactive advertising (better than those LCD screens!). But, sadly, the rain washed away the scribblings, which makes us wonder what kind of pen the "iPod inkster" used. We're personally fond of Sharpies. But who is the inkster? Disgruntled tech head? Hardcore PC user? Socialist leftie? Someone stuck on the I section of the dictionary?
The Village Voice article also has a list of the things "I stands for" plus many photographs (from Staci Schwartz) of the scribblings. [Via Matt H.]
Sesame Street's Letter of the Day is not I, but don't you worry - give it another 25 days.
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Do you realize the irony that Gothamist "loves the idea" of people scrawling their comments on expensive outdoor advertising, but Gothamist gets righteous and indignant when people write certain comments here in the comments section of a blog?
Hello, apples and oranges. To compare Gothamist and Apple is giving Gothamist way too much credit or Apple too little. Apple's ads are in the public space; Gothamist's comments are still on Gothamist's own server, though accessible in public. If Apple felt the same way about street ads the way we do about our comments, then the advertisments would have some sort of coating that would make it easy for the street team to erase. And there's also nothing particular offensive about the Apple comments - Gothamist likes the constructive comments, but ones that don't really contribute to the discussion and dwell needlessly on the minutiae are another matter.
So enough about the comments. Read our comments policy.
iT was a sharpie (iLove them too) -- i've been told that apple henchmen came early iN the morning and applied fresh ads to the wall. and yes, I write from experience, I have an iPod and own apple stock!
There is a point of over marketing where something cool is marketed so damn much that it starts to annoy people. just look at the new Mini and the new VW Bug.
saw versions of these the other day on st marks n 1st....street art / social commentary / whateverucallit at its worst. downright boring.
Oh, God, not the comments thing again! As the source of all wisdom in the universe - Sean Connery - has said, "Let it go, Indiana..."
I thought the Abu Ghraib posters were more interesting; pulled the reader back into the world. These graphs are just repititions of solipsistic / narcissistic themes that define iPod users in the first place... Before iPod users get upset, I'll also add users of personal music listening devices of different brands into my generalization... Dr. Michael Bull, a lecturer at the University of Sussex had an interesting theory on the social impact of such devices.
hey redboy those were me too -- and by the way Boba Fett is pretty boring too (very last century) -- iF iTs so boring why did you bother to post a comment? are all your action figures broken?
at least i post with my real info mr dissenter. and no, i have plently of boba figures and they're all in lovely shape, thanks for your concern tho :)
want good examples of street art check out some of these :
http://www.stickernation.net/seen.asp
or some of the many pics i've snapped around town
http://www.redboy.com/cgi-bin/moveabletype/mt-search.cgi?IncludeBlogs=3&search=street+art
*note i didn't bother to take out my cam for your tripe :)
my comment is better than yours : p
love how our city has an unannounced publicity war going on on the pavement and on "post no bills" signs. These scribbles are a interesting method but the iraq photos I wish I had a chance to see. It goes to show the creativity that abounds in nyc, not only in the ads that appear but the scribbles on top.
Great read Gothamist!
Well, well. Its one thing to take a picture of something that you find, its quite another to create something that others take pictures of (and then publish)
"To Create is Divine, to Reproduce is Human" -- Man Ray
and if you didn't know, vandalism and graffiti are crimes in this city - De La Vega spent 30 days in jail for drawing on the sidewalk with chalk -- so rather than admit to a crime, I'm protecting my identity to maintain my freedom.
And you never answered my initial question - what compelled you to post in the first place - advertising another location where these can still be seen, yet disparaging them - methinks you doth protest too much.
hahah de la vega got jailtime? HOT! his shite was increadibly inane as well. almost as bad as that flower person b4 he/she moved onto small posters
so photography isn't an artform? i can think of quite a few ppl/museums that would disagree with you there...regardless, i create. alot. more on the music and graphic design tip, however.
and to answer your initial question...the answer is simple. mediocre art drives me up the f'n wall.
i respect the fact that you went out there and did something in the name of art...the result, however, was more akin to a scribble on a bathroom wall.
cheers
methinks you just compared yourself to a god and therefore lost all credibility in this debate.
Just to be clear, De La Vega went to jail for a mural he was painting on a store wall - not for chalking. He had permission to paint it but by the time the owner of the store came down to the police station he had already plead guilty for a misdemeanor. He had a prior record which probably lead to the jailtime. As for chalking, the NY Times article DLVega's featured in says it is a crime, but as he was quoted as saying, "if they try to sentence people for that, every kid hopscotching will be in cuffs."
As for the critique on taking pictures of art versus making it, I believe Man Ray became famous for taking rayographs of objects he did not make and taking photographs of people he obviously did not create.
http://www.mayanmajix.com/art880.html
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F6071FFE345C0C708DDDAD0894DC404482
So many points to respond to before leaving work today (yes I am a full time wage slave -- how else could I afford an iPod)...
- I'm not saying that Photography is not an art form -- but it is certainly not the case that every consumer with a digital camera should be considered an artist and certainly not every photograph should be considered art. Or if you will, there is a continuum where some photos are more "art-like" than others. And photos of other art seem to fall into a special category of documentary photos, and seem to me to be somehow innately subordinate to the original art that they are documenting.
- I was told of De La Vega's fate by someone who I met while marking the posters , who claims to be a friend of his firsthand -- I should know better than to believe everything I hear from people on the streets but it seemed an apt warning.
- Quoting another human being is not comparing yourself to a god -- if you think it is then I'm glad I don't follow your religion.
- I believe Man Ray was already famous by the time he made his Rayographs. He was a fashion photographer and the grandfather of dada. The man oozed creativity out of every orifice.
Thank you all for participating in the dialog and especially to redboy for being able to take it as well as dish it!
I like little comments done with sharpies on things as long as they're tasteful and the ipod scribbles were tasteful and quite humourous...well the words like 'the 'i' stands for invisible' I think definately are. I think more British people should take up carrying markers around with them to makes notes on stuff. We had BNP (a scum racist political party) posters up near our colleage and they were waiting for some nice marker fun.
"And photos of other art seem to fall into a special category of documentary photos, and seem to me to be somehow innately subordinate to the original art that they are documenting."
much like someone scribbling on someone elses designs in the name of thier "art" :)
"...and especially to redboy for being able to take it as well as dish it!"
anytime ;)
--Apple's ads are in the public space; Gothamist's comments are still on Gothamist's own server, though accessible in public.--
Okay, not just to be contrarian, but this isn't the best leg to stand on. Can you VIEW these ads in public? Sure. Hell, that's the point of an AD. Are the ads OWNED by the public? At least not any more/less so than Gothamist's comments section.
Not that I think that it's particularly cool, but that ad space has been rented by apple (much like your servers) and someone owns the building that the ad is tacked up on.
I think the scralls were great! and this is coming from someone who bought her first iPod last week despite being a PCer who still believes that most people who swear by Apple are pretentious hipster. Oh, and I swear by my iPod.
following on i-pod dissenters remarks i can't help but think of an old George Will quote which was "art is anything done by anyone claiming to be an artist" (i kind of like this religion too)...however it's possible that in purely academic/pedantic sense he/she has a point
I, too, love this sort of thing. one must use caution... I got arrested for doing this, once:
http://tangram.tv/fish/trainpostering/
... friends of mine have been similarly hauled in for doodling on the subway. not graf, just like with a No.2 pencil on the tiles. so yes I too hope such things continue ad nauseum, but those wielding pens and pencils might watch their backs, wordup.
-fish
As chairman and CEO of Apple I am saddened that someone dared to defile our marketing efforts. If adbusters did it, well hey. They know what they are doing. But no two bit ding dong with a marker and an opinion has a right to besmirch our MP3 player.
This upsets me so much I have stayed away from the Pilates class and now and trying to positively align my chakras. Boo on you!
As co-founder of Apple, I am saddened that the iPod has become the quintessential Yuppie Accessory®. I'm glad I quit long before the company sold out. Shame on you Steve; I think you used me.
I think my decision to seal the battery in the compartment of the iPod was a particularly brilliant move. I mean c'mon. If people get scared using Windows machines, do you think they'll willfully pop open an iPod on their own? No way! Kaching, more "warranty service" for the Jobs man!
Here's an idea. How about an iPod that would work like a stereo component. That way you can listen to your tunes on a real stereo without having to boot up a $1,000 Mac! Now I gotta get someone to work on that one.
Wozniak? Stop putzing around with the IIgs and do something!
As a proud owner of an old-school iPod, I think an invisible iPod would be AWESOME. I'm sure they're working on it. The real dilemma, though, is how the status conscious would let people know they're cool if their iPod was invisible? I predict it will come with an optional 80 dB fog-horn screaming "I have an iPod and you don't! Unless, of course, you mug me!"
uh Steve, all you need is a stereo mini to rca cord to listen to your ipod on a conventional stereo. you dont need to go to harvard to figure that one out, just a radioshack.
I can hook a walkman up to my strereo with an RCA cable, but I wouldn't call it a tapedeck.
I'm talking about an MP3 player that does not have to be as small as an iPod, that can use a standard hard drive and does not need a rechargable battery. Plug it into a wall like any other stereo component. Give it optical out inaddition to standard RCA output and you have a product.
120 Gig standard IDE drives are quite cheap nowadays. Wrap a small system around it and you have a stereo component. A TiVO for sound that doesn't need susbcription service and allows you to listen to your music the way most people are used to.
that would be nifty but i bet you wont make one.
Stick 802.11g wireless networking on the puppy to transfer tunes, or better yet, so you can stream tunes from your powerbook/g5 through the stereo.
uh, that device already exists, though it's probably not available at J&R or the Wiz.
For example, check out the squeezebox: http://www.slimdevices.com
There's other devices too, but I guess things'll really heat up when Sony or Philips makes one
leMatt, the Slim Devices product does not have a hard drive or any storage at all. It is designed to "Stream digital music from your computer or over the Internet", meaning your main computer *must* be on in order to use this device.
Add a hard drive to that, and you have a completely different and better product since you can listen to your music without your computer being on. Why should my $1,000 computer be kept on with all of its resources when it's not needed? I can currently burn a CD and then play it on my stereo, why not copy the music to a stereo component MP3 player and play it when I want?
Boba Fett ROCKS.
for what it's worth, i was walking past the ipod posters at broome and 6th yesterday and noticed that someone had stuck round fluorescent stickers where the nipples would be on the ipod people. it made me smile.
Perhaps Apple comissioned this 'grafitti?' Seems too perfectly subversive. Used to be called propaganda; now it's marketing. Don't sneeze.